Sanatana Dharma row: Will it reflect on vote bank of BJP in upcoming LS election in K'taka?

Umar Sharieef |NT

Bengaluru: With the opposition BJP strongly opposing the remarks made by Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin that Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated, the political impact of the controversy on Karnataka, the only south Indian state where the party was in power before, will be closely watched in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election.

From Home Minister Amit Shah to Basavaraj Bommai, the former CM of Karnataka, all BJP leaders have been hugely critical of Stalin Junior's remarks.

They clamed it has hurt the sentiments of Hindus and also objected to the Congress government’s stand on this issue.

What has irked them in particular is Minister for IT-BT, Rural Development, and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge's remark on September 4 that any religion that promotes inequality 'is as good as a disease, in what was assumed to be support for Udhayanidhi.

Soon, BL Santhosh, the National General Secretary of the BJP reacted to the minister’s comment and asked if he 'would chop off the head if there was an infection in someone’s stomach.'

The minister responded remarking that there have been many infections for thousands of years and they are still prevalent today which discriminate between humans and deny them their dignity of being a human being.

“The only way to cure infections is the Constitution. You are from Karnataka, Please spread the preaching of Guru Basavanna, it will help us build a more equitable society”, he quipped.

Political analyst Muzaffar Assadi told News Trail that the BJP will take this row as a narrative for the central election though it might hardly make an impact in the state.

“There is no narrative for the BJP except this and the decision to change the name of India to Bharat. While the discussions about Bharat might be confined to intellectuals, the party may resort to communal ways to woo voters”, he said, adding it will not impact voters much as the guarantee schemes of the Congress are a huge hit in the state.

In the recent assembly election, the BJP pushed the communal card, to woo voters, yet suffered a defeat. State president Nalin Kumar Kateel, during the campaign, asked people to vote on larger issues such as ‘Love Jihad’ and not on minor issues such as the development of the state.

Hijab, Halal, and the abrogation of Muslim reservation were some of the factors that the party had put forth.

Experts claim that the result of the assembly elections is proof that the BJP’s religious card will not work anymore amng the electorate.